


Differential

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: First Time, Futurefic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-09
Updated: 2006-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-01 11:04:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/355964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even aliens can get drunk if they drink enough. [05/24/05]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Differential

## Differential

by silvina

[]()

* * *

Standard Disclaimer. It gets harder and harder to say they're not mine. Why do you make me do it? Please send comments, questions, compliments, and otters to sdelcul@yahoo.com. 

His eyelids were glued together. Sometime during the night someone had snuck in and superglued his eyelids together, the bastard; there was no other explanation for how he had to physically pry them open with his fingers. He turned his head away from the light and groaned as the movement seemed to reverberate through his entire body, finally terminating in a dull throbbing in his head. Cursing his clumsiness, he managed to make it to the bathroom before throwing up. He peed for an hour or so before getting in the shower. He turned on the water and merely sat on the bathmat until his head cleared enough to stand, albeit still wobbly. 

Eventually he felt strong enough to turn off the water and step out. Looking at his bleary reflection in the mirror he decided that he'd discovered another form of meteorite: vodka shots. It had taken about seven bottles, but Lex had finally proven that even aliens could get drunk. 

Walking into the kitchen required at least one hand on the wall in case the floor moved. He could hear the radio playing some inanely stupid song, and Lex was humming along, making him wonder if perhaps he was hallucinating. There was no way that Lex could be practically dancing as he made breakfast, having drunk as much as Clark had. And yet, there he was cooking with his customary flair and apparently as refreshed as if they hadn't both spent the entire previous evening drinking. 

He groaned as the smell of whatever Lex was making turned his stomach, and slumped into a chair. 

Lex looked at him, and the small smile on his face let Clark know that he was only refraining from commenting on Clark's condition by literally biting his tongue. 

Clark glared at him as Lex slid the last pancake onto a plate and turned off the burner. 

"Good morning, dear husband." 

"Good? I think I'm dying. What the hell did we drink last night?" He repeated Lex's greeting mentally. "Did you just say husband?" 

Lex grinned, showing perfectly white teeth that could have been in a toothpaste commercial. "That is the traditional expression for he who is one's spouse. Unless, of course, you prefer wife." 

"We're not spouses. Husbands. Whatever. I'm not your wife." 

The light in Lex's eyes died, as did his smile. "How quickly it becomes mundane. And we didn't even honeymoon. Guess all the magic is gone. Oh well." 

He felt the most inane urge to comfort Lex as he accepted a glass of orange juice. "Lex. We didn't get married. I would remember getting married." He drank the entire glass without breathing. "Wouldn't I?" 

"You don't remember the happiest night of your life? What will we tell the children?" Lex asked with a smirk. 

Clark watched carefully as he ate his pancakes. Having sat in the corner Lex had to move around Clark to put his plates in the dishwasher. "Prove it." Clark said. 

Lex looked surprised for a moment, then thoughtful. So quietly that Clark almost didn't hear it, Lex said, "Okay." 

Lex's mouth was on his, and it was so sweet that he closed his eyes. Without thinking he licked at the scar on Lex's lip. His actions seemed to startle Lex into opening his mouth, and Clark couldn't stop himself from finding all traces of the syrup that had been on Lex's pancakes. 

Lex pulled away suddenly, and Clark wasn't quite ready to let him. He opened his eyes to pull Lex towards him again, but Lex stopped him with a hand on his chest. "Clark. I was kidding." 

"What?" 

"I'm sorry. I was kidding." He looked away. "We didn't get married. Nothing happened." 

"Nothing happened." he repeated, almost as a question. 

Lex looked away again. "Nothing happened. Drink more water or you'll feel like shit all day. I have to go. I'll be back late." 

And then he was alone. 

* * *

"Yoohoo, Clark? Anyone awake over there?" 

A hand waved in front of his face and he blinked. "Huh? Hey, Lois. What's up?" 

"I don't know, you tell me. I'd say you had a hot date last night or something except that we all know you have no social life to speak of. So what's got you so preoccupied?" 

"Nothing," he assured her while standing up. "I'll be right back." 

He turned to leave the office and Lois was in his face. "Where are you going?" 

"Gee, Lois; I was planning on going to the bathroom. Would you like to come?" 

"Maybe you can wake up while you're in there, and then we could actually get some work done today." 

"You never know, Lolo. You never know." With a laugh he ducked her punch and headed down the hall. He'd drunk almost two gallons of water after Lex had left. Even a super strong bladder could only hold so much. 

Actually waking up was probably a good idea he thought as he looked at himself in the mirror again. He looked only slightly less gray then he had at home. Splashing water on his face helped, but he still felt mildly dazed. God, he was never drinking again. 

He repeated this to himself over and over throughout the day, even as it kept getting longer and longer. Part of him was hoping for an excuse to leave the office, any excuse really, so that Lois would stop smirking at him like she knew what he'd been up to last night. If only she'd tell Clark, because he didn't remember much after the fifth bottle of vodka. 

Around lunchtime he ran into Perry White. Literally. No one was hurt, but Perry ordered him to go home since Clark ended up wearing most of Perry's coffee. This seemed like a good plan until Lois convinced Perry to give them both the rest of the day off. Perhaps Lois imagined that she was doing him a favor, but this only gave him more time and attention to devote to trying to remember the night before. 

He threw his clothes in the hamper, even though he knew the coffee would then permanently stain his shirt, and sat at the table nursing a very large glass of milk, and stared wonderingly at the recycling bin beside the kitchen door. 

There, in a neat, clean row, were seven empty bottles of Absolut. Rinsed, of course. 

When had Lex become so fucking domestic?, he wondered. Lex had been raised with housekeepers to do everything, but Clark was the one who still had to stop himself from drinking from the bottle. He smiled fondly, imagining CEO Lex Luthor as a 1950s tv housewife. The flowered apron was, of course, a lovely shade of lavender. When he pictured this Lex greeting him at the door he felt something weird. It wasn't something he could put into words clearly, so he ignored it and finished his milk. 

Standing up to leave, he caught his reflection in the toaster. He looked like a celebrity milk poster, except without the celebrity. Licking his lips to get it off, he felt that brief flash of something again. This time he didn't ignore the sensation. It had to be related to the night before. 

At first what he could remember was very little. They'd been watching a movie. He remembered saying something about the quantity of drinking, and somehow that had let to seven bottles of vodka. He wandered around a little, but found himself back at the recycling bin. 

Touching the bottles did nothing. Stupid, he thought. It's probably nothing. 

When he stepped into his bedroom to grab another shirt, he knocked something further into the corner. Picking it up he saw it was a button. Lex's, from the look of it. 

How had Lex lost a button in Clark's bedroom? He opened Lex's bedroom door to leave the button on his dresser, and was struck by the faint but persistent aroma of Lex's cologne. The button and the cologne sparked a memory of falling against Lex's neck, half drunk, and inhaling the scent he'd come to think of as pure Lex. 

Now that he was remembering, the memories seemed to come at him faster than he could react to them, and he slumped to the floor, remembering. 

Flash- spilling his vodka. 

Flash- falling against Lex's chest as Lex laughed, then licking his neck to make Lex laugh. 

Flash- Lex licking his mouth in retaliation before suddenly licking inside his mouth. 

Flash- kissing Lex . . . 

Flash- watching Lex take off his shirt . . . 

Flash- his own hands unbuckling Lex's belt . . . 

Flash- both of them stumbling to the nearest bedroom . . . 

Flash- miles and miles of warm, silky skin . . . 

Flash- Lex's mouth wandering down his chest and abdomen . . . 

Flash- pulling Lex away and tasting him . . . 

Flash- Lex opening a condom and smoothing it over his cock . . . 

Flash- groaning as Lex prepared himself . . . 

Flash- being flipped onto his back as Lex climbed on top of him . . . 

Flash- losing his virginity, and losing his control as Lex began moving slowly, oh so slowly, until Clark couldn't hold back any longer and turned them over so he could control the rhythm, stroking deeper, harder, touching Lex, kissing his chest, and pulling away to watch Lex's face as he came and releasing his own orgasm moments later before falling exhaustedly beside Lex, barely conscious enough to make sure he didn't actually land on Lex and _OH_ _MY_ _GOD_ they'd had sex. 

He wondered suddenly why Lex hadn't told him, why he'd insisted that nothing had happened and then he remembered one last thing. 

He'd been almost asleep. Lex had gotten up and apparently cleaned himself off before coming back to do the same for Clark. Clark hadn't recuperated his strength enough to thank him or open his eyes really, but he could feel the care in Lex's touch as he removed all the evidence of what had happened. Lex's hand had stroked his face, pulled the sheet over him and kissed him gently on the forehead before whispering good night. 

Clark had attempted to pull together enough to open his eyes, but Lex had turned off the light. Instead of leaving though, he'd paused at the door then. Clark had watched him, thankful that he was able to see Lex clearly even without the light. He'd seen something work its way through Lex's eyes, but hadn't been able to decipher its meaning. He was about to ask when Lex whispered something and left. 

The meaning had not hit him then. Perhaps it was too overwhelming, or he was simply too drunk, but he hadn't been able to comprehend and respond in any meaningful way before Lex left. Minutes later he'd fallen asleep and in the morning, hadn't remembered anything. 

Now that he remembered, he didn't have a clue what to do. Had Lex been drunk too, or had he been planning this all along? The suspicious voice in his head sounded remarkably like his father as he questioned Lex's intentions. Whose idea had it been to get him drunk? And just how planned were his reactions that night? But then another voice spoke up, and this one sounded more like his mother, who was more likely to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. This voice reminded him of what had crossed Lex's face when he couldn't know that Clark could see him. That _hadn't_ been faked. 

And then there was the part that he couldn't admit out loud. However manipulated the series of events might have been, he'd liked it. A lot. 

The ringing of his cell phone brought him back to himself. 

"Hey Lois, what's up?" 

"I'm on my way to pick you up. Senator McCabe is using his 16 year old daughter as blackmail. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. 

For the moment, just the distraction he needed. 

* * *

Several days later he was still unsure of himself. He'd picked a fight with Lex on Thursday, knowing well and good that Lex would be away for several days starting Friday. This trip was one of the reasons they'd been watching a movie earlier in the week and not busy or out separately. Now it seemed like a Godsend, giving Clark time to figure things out without interference. 

He talked to both of his parents separately, broaching possibilities and talking only in vague generalities of a friend of a friend's friend. Jonathon Kent seemed to understand that this was more then just a theoretical conversation. 

"We love you, Clark. No matter what." 

"I'm fine, Dad. Really. I love you guys, too." 

He was passed to his mother and waited until he heard his dad head back out to the fields before talking to his mother. He hung up, feeling even more unsure of his options. As soon as he hit the disconnect button the phone rang, and he forgot to check the caller ID before picking it up. 

"Hello?" 

"It's me, Clark." 

"Oh." _Shit_. "Uh, hi Lex. How's Singapore?" 

"You remembered, didn't you?" 

"Yeah. How did you know?" 

"You didn't offer to take me to the airport." 

He smiled, forgetting that Lex couldn't see him. He lay back on the couch, feeling his comfortable Lex vibe returning. "You got all that because you had to take a taxi?" 

"Well, and then your father called and tried to sound me out about what my intentions were towards you." 

"--" 

"Hello? Clark? Are you still there?" 

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here." 

"Don't tell me you - you fell off the couch, didn't you!" 

"Shut up." Clark laughed. "He did not." 

"Believe me, I know how you feel. I was surprised enough when he called me in the first place." 

"Wow. That's just. Wow." 

It was Lex's turn to laugh before turning serious again. "So how do you feel?" 

"I-" he sighed. "I don't know how I am. Surprised?" 

"Is that a question?" 

"Maybe. We're friends, Lex. I'm not sure it's such a good idea to mess with that." 

"I don't know if I can do that - pretend it never happened. I didn't plan it, but it happened, Clark." 

"I'm not saying it didn't happen. I'm just saying that I want some time to figure out how I feel. When do you get back?" 

"Tuesday. Maybe early Wednesday." 

"Okay. Okay. Tuesday. See you then." 

He hung up with a sense of relief that made him feel guilty. Now it was up to him. One way or another he had until Tuesday to figure everything out. But first he had to go to work. 

* * *

He sat on the couch, waiting. It was Wednesday morning. Tuesday he'd waited for Lex, but, as the hours had passed, Lex hadn't arrived. He worried that Lex had decided that Clark wasn't worth the trouble. The disaster that had been his relationships with women, especially Lana, had convinced him not to make the same mistake again. He still wanted to talk to Lex before admitting it, but he could easily see them becoming more tan friends and the idea deserved a chance. 

Lex had said Tuesday, maybe early Wednesday, though, and as the time passed, Clark paced. He'd been without sleep for several days now, trying to decide and by noon he'd fallen asleep on the couch. 

He awoke suddenly when the door opened, and as Lex stepped inside, Clark stood as well. They looked at each other, Lex's expression almost confrontational, until Clark smiled. "You're late." 

"I didn't think you'd be here." 

"Why not?" 

Lex entered fully, setting a suitcase down by the door. "Doesn't matter. What did you decide?" 

"Why don't you sit down?" 

"Don't drag it out." 

"Just sit." After a brief hesitation, Lex obeyed and he continued. "To be honest, my first instinct was to wish I hadn't remembered. Things with Lana became so complicated-" 

"Look, Clark. If you're going to- whatever you're going to say, I can tell you that this is probably not a good time to bring up Lana, okay?" 

He cringed. "Sorry. You're right." 

"Go on." 

"I'm horrible at relationships, Lex. I don't want you to hate me if things don't work out." 

"Is this where you say 'let's just be friends'?" 

"No. This is where I say that more than that I can't stand the thought of wondering whether it could have worked out between us. Not with you. I want to be more than friends. If you still want to-" 

"I - honestly I was more prepared for the friendship speech." 

"So what do you think? This is as new to you as it is to me. Are you willing to see what happens?" 

"Yes." 

He released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Okay. Good, I mean." 

Neither of them moved from their respective couches. 

"This-." 

"So, - Sorry. Go ahead." 

"I was just going to say that maybe this would work better if we at least sat together." Lex smiled. 

"You're right. So, um, do you want to, or should I-" 

"Come here, Clark." 

Clark smiled as he moved over. This time, he would remember everything. Just in case. 


End file.
